Parking rules — Virginia Permit Test
Parking rules on the Virginia permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
When you park next to a curb, pull close to it. You may not park more than one foot from the curb.
A car parked wide narrows the lane beside it, so traffic has to swing out around it into the next lane.
On a two-way street, park on the right side of the road. On a one-way road you may park on either side.
Parking against the flow means you drove on the wrong side to get there, and you will do it again pulling out.
When parking downhill with a curb, turn your front wheels toward the curb. When parking uphill with a curb, turn your front wheels away from it.
If the brake lets go, the wheels roll the car into the curb rather than out into the traffic behind you.
When parking on a hill without a curb, turn the front wheels so that if the vehicle rolls, the back of it rolls away from traffic.
With no curb to catch it there is nothing to stop the car but the slope, so the wheels have to aim it off the road.
When you park on a shoulder, pull as far onto the shoulder as you can. Move as far from traffic as possible.
A car half in the lane is a stationary object in a moving line, and the driver who hits it never expected it to be there.
Before opening your door, look for other cars, people on bikes and people walking.
A door opened into a bike lane puts a rider over the handlebars, and they have no time at all to stop for it.
On the test
How far from the curb may a driver park?
No more than one foot from it. A car parked wide narrows the lane beside it, so traffic has to swing out around it into the next lane.
How this works
Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.
You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.
Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Virginia Driver’s Manual, published by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-02.
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/licenses-ids/exams/know-exam
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/forms/dmv39.pdf
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/documents/dmv39i.pdf
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/licenses-ids/learners/apply
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/licenses-ids/learners/restrictions
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-870/
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-873/
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-874/
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-862/